Information for Patients

Eating disorders warrant specialized care. Our center offers a comprehensive evaluation and assessment of treatment needs.

Patient Experience

Outpatient Treatment for Adolescents

We offer a range of outpatient services, including family and individual therapy, psychiatric care, and multi-family groups. We offer Family Based Treatment (also known as the Maudsley Method) for children and adolescents.

Day Treatment for Adolescents

The Children’s Day Unit is an outpatient day hospital program with an eating disorders track. The treatment team includes psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and activities therapists. A behavioral protocol is used to help patients normalize weight and unhealthy eating patterns. This program runs from 8am to 2:30pm and includes breakfast and lunch.

Inpatient Treatment

The treatment team providing inpatient care includes psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, social workers, nutritionists, activities therapists and research professionals. A behavioral protocol is used to help patients normalize weight and unhealthy eating patterns. In addition to individual and family sessions, patients also participate in a variety of groups that aim to address distorted cognitions and behaviors and help to develop skills to use after discharge from the hospital (see sample schedule).

Patient Bedrooms

Patients' sleeping rooms (double- or single-occupancy) offer privacy, and include semi-private bathrooms. All are well-lighted and air-conditioned. Many provide panoramic views of the Hudson River. Patients are encouraged to add personal items as appropriate.

Therapeutic Activities

Multi purpose rooms host various group therapies and quiet activities such as reading or computer use. One of the amenities provided to our patients is a secure landscaped park which affords sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Palisades. As clinically appropriate, staff accompany patients to the park which is connected to the hospital building via a secure bridge. Off-site field trips are organized by the Activities Therapy Department. Other leisure activities take place on the unit.

Dining Room

Supervised meals take place in the communal dining room on the inpatient unit. This comfortable, light filled room also has a piano and ping pong table and is used for various activities outside of meal times. Opportunities to process the eating experience take place in group settings with staff in the dining room as well.

Patient Testimonials

"The months that I spent at NYSPI gave me valuable insight into my struggle with anorexia nervosa. The doctors and staff were firm yet compassionate and fostered an understanding of the general and specific causes of my illness. As I reached optimal nutritional status, my emotional and mental state improved greatly. . . The last month that I was at PI was devoted to Exposure Therapy. This gave me the opportunity to better understand my relationship with food and showed me how my thoughts about specific foods were simply not valid. . . This does not mean that I no longer struggle . . . , but it has given me a basis to be able to refute what I find to be “scary” . . ."

 

"I am very thankful to have been given the opportunity by the doctors and staff at NYSPI to regain a relatively normal relationship with food and the ability to understand the things that I need to do to maintain recovery."

 

"I struggled with an eating disorder for 15 years. I tried many different programs….but was never able to completely eradicate eating disordered behaviors. I was exhausted, frustrated and had given up on having a normal life. My doctor strongly suggested I try the Columbia Program, and I reluctantly agreed. . . As time passed, my resistance lessened, and I began to see the many benefits of the Columbia Program...Research is an integral part of the program... the array of weekly groups offered multiple benefits. The most important part of the program is the time factor. The staff views the weight gain as the beginning of the journey, whereupon a patient can practice new skills and still return safely to the hospital."

 

"Some patients feel the staff is “tough.” I disagree. I think that the staff is extremely compassionate, but tough enough to fight the illness. This is not an easy program, but it is not an easy disease. The Columbia Program recognizes the disease for what it is, and combines research-based guidelines with an experienced staff to give its patients the best possible chance at a real life."